Among other things, I must report: a severe heat-wave hit Japan last week, killing at least 12 people and sending thousands to hospitals from heatstroke and exhaustion. Most were over 65, but children were also affected. Heat ranged from 95• to 101• F. News advises citizens to drink plenty of fluids and stay indoors.

And while citizens sit sweltering, politicians get ready for so-called elections that are suppose to take place on the 21st of this month. But with the system rigged so that rural votes count more than urban votes, the party of present Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to win overwhelmingly.

The only thing that could hurt him is that he supports restarting nuclear power plants, while all other parties––and, yes, most private citizens––are against it! Speaking of which, have you heard that now officials here admit their Fukushima power plant has been leaking for a lonnngggggg time!!

Hiroko Tabuchi writes for The New York Times: “The stricken nuclear power plant at Fukushima has probably been leaking contaminated water into the ocean for two years, ever since an earthquake and tsunami badly damaged the plant, . . . In unusually candid comments, Shunichi Tanaka, the head of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, also said that neither his staff nor the plant’s operator knew exactly where the leaks were coming from, or how to stop them.” Say what????

In ‘Japanese Nuclear Plant May Have Been Leaking for Two Years’ Tabuchi adds: “Until recently, Tokyo Electric, . . . flatly denied that any of that water was leaking into the ocean, even though various independent studies of radiation levels in the nearby ocean have suggested otherwise. In recent days, Tepco has retreated to saying that it was not sure whether there was a leak into the ocean.”

Well tomorrow I cross the pond to China where the government’s trying to deal with city folk who hate farm folks moving in, and the largest collection ever seen of algae bloom amasses among the beaches. But then as Solomon tells us in used Christian Bibles, “ . . . there is no new thing under the sun (Eccl. 1: 9).”